2014 New England Revolution schedule unveiled

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Major League Soccer today unveiled its 2014 regular-season schedule, a slate that sees each of the 19 teams play 34 games, beginning March 8 and ending on October 26. The league’s clubs will play regionally-focused schedules, with each club playing more intra-conference games.

The Revolution will open the 2014 slate at Houston on March 8. Following a road match at East Coast rival Philadelphia on March 15, the Revs will open their 17-game home slate at Gillette Stadium against Vancouver Whitecaps FC on March 22.

Six of the team’s first nine matches will be played on the road, and the league will take a two-weekend break between June 12 and June 22 during the group stage of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

Three of the team’s matches are currently scheduled to be broadcast nationally on either NBC Sports Network or ESPN2: at Chicago on April 19 (NBCSN), at Kansas City on Sept. 26 (NBCSN), and at Houston on Oct. 16 (ESPN2).

Among the home schedule’s highlights, the Revs will host:

Sporting Kansas City, who knocked New England out of the 2013 MLS Cup Playoffs, on April 26 and Sept. 3,

U.S. National Team captain and former Revs star Clint Dempsey and Seattle Sounders FC on May 11,

2013 Supporters Shield winner New York Red Bulls on June 7, and

Perennial rival Chicago Fire twice, on July 12 and Sept. 7.

Continuing the scheduling format used in each of the last two seasons, the Revolution will play seven Eastern Conference teams three times each this season: Chicago, Columbus, Houston, Kansas City, Montreal, Philadelphia and Toronto. The Revs will face Chicago, Columbus and Kansas City twice at home and once on the road, while the club will travel twice to Houston, Montreal, Philadelphia and Toronto with one return meeting against each in Foxborough. New England will play two-game series with D.C. and New York. Eastern Conference opponents comprise 25 games of the 34-game schedule.

The remaining nine games will be played against Western Conference opponents as the Revs will face each Western team only one time apiece again in 2014. The Revolution will host Chivas USA, Colorado, Portland, Seattle and Vancouver at Gillette Stadium, and will travel to Dallas, LA, Real Salt Lake and San Jose.

All of the Revolution’s matches against its I-95 corridor rivals – New York, Philadelphia and D.C. – are scheduled for weekends, including all four contests on the road.